Individual Text Feature: Number the Stars

Number the Stars, written by Lois Lowry and published in 1989, follows ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, her best friend Ellen Rosen, and their families, all of whom are living in Nazi-occupied Denmark in September of 1943. The story abruptly starts with Annemarie, Ellen, and Kirsti—Annemarie’s five-year-old sister—on their way home from school. They are stopped by two German soldiers for running through the streets, which leaves Annemarie and Ellen, who is Jewish, scared. When their mothers, Mrs. Johansen and Mrs. Rosen, find out about this encounter, they ask the girls to walk a different way to school and avoid interacting with any of the soldiers.

Annemarie reminisces on how different Denmark was just a few years before, when it first surrendered to Nazi Germany. She remembers the stories her father has told her about Denmark’s beloved king, King Christian X, and thinks about her older sister Lise, who died before her marriage to Peter Neilsen. She notes that Peter has been changed by both the war and Lise’s death.

The story fast-forwards to the end of the September when the girls go to buy a button for Kirsti’s jacket from Mrs. Hirsch’s shop, but discover that the shop has closed and now has a German sign on the door. Mrs. Johansen is extremely unsettled by this and runs to tell Mrs. Rosen. Later that night, Annemarie is awoken by her mother, who tells her that Peter has come to visit them with news of the Germans closing Jewish-owned stores. Annemarie begins to feel frightened for Ellen and the Rosens, but believes that Denmark must protect their Jews.

Ellen tells the girls of her family’s plans to celebrate the Jewish New Year later that week and invites them to come over later. On the Jewish New Year though, Mrs. Johansen tells Annemarie and Kirsti that Ellen will be staying with the their family, as Mr. and Mrs. Rosen must leave immediately to visit relatives. Later that night, Annemarie is told the truth: the Nazis plan to arrest and relocate all the Danish Jews, forcing the Rosen’s into hiding. Ellen must now pretend that she is one of Annemarie’s sisters. In the middle of the night, German soldiers visit the Johansen apartment, searching for the Rosen’s. They find Ellen and become suspicious by her dark hair. Mr. Johansen provides the soldiers with an old photograph of Lise, who had dark hair when she was a baby, and they leave without any further probing.

The following day, Mrs. Johansen and the girls visit Henrik, Mrs. Johansen’s brother, at his house by the sea in Gilleleje, Denmark. Uncle Henrik tells the girls that their Great-aunt Birte has died and that her casket will be resting in the living room tomorrow before she is buried, as per custom. This news puzzles Annemarie, as she does not know of a Great-aunt by that name. She confronts Uncle Henrik, who tells her she is right but that it is better that she does not know everything, not yet. He encourages her to continue being brave, even when she feels frightened.

The coffin arrives later that night and many “friends” of the Great-aunt Birte visit the home to pay their respects. Peter arrives with Mr. and Mrs. Rosen and they are finally reunited with their daughter. A little while after, soldiers arrive, questioning why so many people have gathered together at the house. Skeptical of the death, the soldiers demand that the coffin—which is empty—be opened. Mrs. Johansen explains that their Great-aunt Birte died of typhus, which is highly contagious and may still spread to the others if the coffin is left opened. Once the soldiers leave, the coffin is opened, revealing hidden blankets and clothing. The people prepare to escape to Sweden, with Peter giving Mr. Rosen a packet with directions to deliver it to Uncle Henrik. Peter leaves with the first group, telling Mrs. Johansen to wait twenty minutes before bringing the second group to Henrik’s boat. He bids farewell to Annemarie, but says he hopes to see her soon. When it is time for the Rosen’s to leave, Ellen promises to Annemarie that she will come back someday.

Annemarie falls asleep while waiting for Mrs. Johansen to return. When she wakes up, she realizes her mother has not returned and goes looking for her. She finds Mrs. Johansen lying on the ground; she broke her ankle on the way back to the house and had to crawl. Annemarie helps her make the rest of the way of the house and finds the packet Peter had given to Mr. Rosen for Uncle Henrik on the steps. Mrs. Johansen sends Annemarie running to deliver the packet—hidden in a basket of apples and cheese—to the boat. Annemarie, scared and in a scurry, tells herself the story of Red Riding Hood to keep her calm and focused on her mission. Annemarie is stopped by four German soldiers with dogs. She reminds herself to act like a silly girl, as her mother told her too, and behaves like Kirsti would with these soldiers. They pick apart the contents of her basket, including the packet. They rip it open, revealing only a dainty handkerchief. The soldiers let her move along and Annemarie makes it to Uncle Henrik’s boat before he departs. Annemarie does not see any sign of the Rosen’s, but Uncle Henrik assures her that everything is alright. He is relieved by her arrival and tells her that he will see her in the evening.

That evening, Uncle Henrik gives Annemarie a lesson in milking his cow, Blossom. He reveals that Peter and others in the Resistance, along with many of the fisherman in Gilleleje, have been smuggling Jews across the sea to Sweden by boat. He shares with her that the Rosen family and the others have safely escaped to Sweden by hiding in his boat, with great help from the handkerchief, which contains a secret drug that keeps the German soldiers’ dogs from smelling those hiding. He assures her that she will be reunited with Ellen one day when the war is over.

The war ends two years later and celebrations of freedom take over Copenhagen. Peter has since died after being captured and publicly executed by the Germans. Annemarie has also learned that the Germans killed Lise, too, for her involvement in the Resistance. She opens the trunk with Lise’s belongings and Ellen’s Star of David necklace that she kept hidden. She asks her father to fix it, declaring that she will wear herself until the Ellen comes home. 

As part of much larger collection of Holocaust-related literature, this book explores a wide variety of themes that are common in adolescent literature, such as ignorance, power, death, and hope. Like Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, young readers are exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust through a very focused and specific lens. Annemarie provides us with the viewpoint of a young Danish girl who may not be aware of the gravity of the Nazi situation, but knows enough to still worry for what may become of her Jewish best friend. She represents a unique type of rebel figure: one who does not chose to be a rebel, but, in many ways, is forced to become one by her circumstances, familial pressures, and duties to society. Throughout the text, she repeats how she does not feel brave, but, more often than not, feels frightened by the looming threats present in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Does this make her any less of a rebel?